Demand Responsive Transport Research Articles

Accelerating agent-based demand-responsive transport simulations with GPUs

A novel GPU-accelerated simulation model of large-scale fleet deployment, which can run country-wide, multi-modal scenarios with millions of agents and fleets of tens of thousands of vehicles within a couple of minutes, is presented. Multiple scenarios of the deployment of fleets of automated vehicles in Switzerland’s largest city, Zurich, are assessed. The simulations include the whole population of Switzerland (3.5 million car owners and 1.7 million public transit users) with their detailed travel demand, the road network (1.1 million links and 0.5 million intersections), and public transit (30 000 stops and 20 000 routes). It is demonstrated that in Zurich one automated vehicle could replace 7–8 private cars with an average increase in the road travel time of 44% and with wait times in the range of 10–15 min, provided travel demand remains constant. Furthermore, for the same fleet size, this novel accelerated simulation model runs up to 9 times faster compared to existing state-of-the-art tools.

Data-Driven Bus Route Optimization Algorithm Under Sudden Interruption of Public Transport

With the continuous expansion of urban traffic operation scale, public transport emergencies occur from time to time, causing serious traffic jams and potential safety hazards in a short time. In view of this, a new adaptive bus route optimization strategy based on the emergency demand responsive public transport is proposed. Firstly, in order to improve the fine-grained passenger carrying capacity of emergency demand responsive public transport and build a clustering model of passenger information, this paper proposes an adaptive clustering algorithm, which considers the main influencing factors such as vehicle capacity, passenger travel time window and the number of stations visited. Aiming at minimizing the cost of vehicle operation and passenger traffic, a multi-objective optimization model of emergency bus route is constructed based on Vehicle Routing Problems with Time Windows (VRPTW) to ensure the operation efficiency of emergency bus. Secondly, a Modified Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search with Nearest Vehicle Dispatch (NVD) algorithm (MALNSN) is proposed, which is an extension of the Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search algorithm (ALNS), by improving the generation rules of initial solutions with NVD and operator selection strategy with Modified Choice Function (MCF), and the effectiveness of algorithm is analyzed according to the Solomon benchmark. The average gain of the proposed MALNSN algorithm is 17.11% higher than that of the original algorithm. Finally, based on the actual road network, experiments are carried out to compare the proposed algorithm with the representative algorithms. The experimental results show that the MALNSN algorithm proposed in this paper can not only ensure the stability of the algorithm, but also formulate a reasonable route optimization strategy in a shorter time, effectively reducing the consumption of transport capacity resources, improving the operation efficiency of public transport and increasing the accessibility of public transport. The theoretical analysis was consistent with the experimental results.

Modal Shift and Shared Automated Demand-Responsive Transport: A Case Study of Jerusalem

By definition, the Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) system integrates transportation modes of very different flexibility - taxis, buses, light rail, ride-hailing. MaaS major unknown is the effectiveness of the ride-sharing modes. We employ a calibrated and validated MATSim multi-modal traffic model of the Jerusalem Metropolitan Area (JMA) to assess the introduction of Shared Autonomous Vehicles (SAV), as a possible game-changer of the existing equilibrium between the Public Transport (PT) and private cars. First, we confirm the recent empirical observations that ride-sharing modes mostly attract PT users, while their attractiveness for private car users is relatively low. Second, we investigate the problem of preserving travelers’ flows to the Jerusalem center while reducing personal car use. For this purpose, we investigate the effect of parking prices and congestion charges in the system with the additional SAV fleet that serves trips to-and-from the center of the city. We propose a balanced set of carrot-and-stick measures to enforce a sustainable modal shift in JMA towards the use of PT and SAV service.

Applying the Utaut to Understand the Behavioral Intention of the Rural Population to Use Demand-Responsive Transport Services

Applying the Utaut to Understand the Behavioral Intention of the Rural Population to Use Demand-Responsive Transport Services

Demand-Responsive Transport for Students in Rural Areas: A Case Study in Vulkaneifel, Germany

Demand-Responsive Transport for Students in Rural Areas: A Case Study in Vulkaneifel, Germany

Estimating the Potential Demand for Demand-Responsive Transport Based on Smartcard Transactions

Estimating the Potential Demand for Demand-Responsive Transport Based on Smartcard Transactions

Integration of Different Mobility Behaviors and Intermodal Trips in MATSim

MATSim is an open-source simulation framework for mesoscopic traffic simulations that has gained popularity in recent years. In this paper, we present a MATSim model for the city of Vienna, with a particular emphasis on the intermodal routing framework used to create agent trips, and the development of a utility function to specify different agents’ mode preferences. To create agent activity chains, we use mobility diaries from the national transportation survey in Austria and disaggregate the available geospatial information to best fit the reported travel times. The novelty of the intermodal framework is the ability to create trips that do not consist of only one mode of transportation, but to also include bicycle, car, and demand-responsive transport (e.g., cab, car sharing) trips in combination with public transportation. To represent the different mobility behaviors of agents, we divide the population into groups and assign them different utility functions for transportation modes according to their socio-demographic characteristics. After presenting the validation of the model, we discuss ways to improve the model.

Analysis of the New Demand-Responsive Transport in Goiânia, Goiás

The demand-responsive public transport Citybus 2.0 was an innovation not only for Goiânia, but for all of Latin America. Created in 2019, this new way of getting around the city is intended to be a substitute for individual motorized transport, encouraging sustainable urban mobility. In order to analyze this new means of transport in the capital of Goiás, an online questionnaire was applied, which had 217 responses, of which 130 are users and 87 are non-users. The questionnaire had ten questions, two of which were general and eight with the purpose of collecting information on user satisfaction regarding the service provided by the new mode of transport. As for the perception of satisfaction, the items related to the cost and service range had the worst ratings.

A demand responsive public transport for a spatially scattered population in a developing country

Rural areas in developing countries suffer from substandard public transit services. The authorities find it difficult to provide quality transport primarily due to budget constraints pertaining to transport infrastructure development, which accommodates spatially heterogonous demand. A questionnaire survey based study conducted in a sparsely populated rural region in Sri Lanka revealed that economically deprived and dependent population tended to choose public transit more over private. The key factors identified in this study that determine the choice of transit were age, gender, education, motorized vehicle ownership, income, travel frequency and transit accessibility. This study further examined the commuter’s willingness towards switching to Demand Responsive Transport system (DRT). Given that DRT was introduced, the commuters responded strongly to pay additional fare whereas moderate agreement was observed in expected comfort level and cashless ticketing. On average, the respondents consented to pay additional fare of SLR 10.75 (0.054 USD) and to wait for 11.65 min to access DRT service. The willingness towards switching to DRT was relatively high in present private transit users than that of in present public transit users. The high level of mobile phone penetration in the study region indicated the feasibility of incorporating state-of-the-art computing and communication technologies to administer DRT system. Authors, therefore recommend transport agencies to assess the financial benefits of introducing DRT service by optimizing the existing resources based on the identified influential parameters.

Optimal control to improve reliability of demand responsive transport priority at signalized intersections considering the stochastic process

Bus priority has been proposed for many years to improve traffic congestion, energy conservation, and emissions reduction. Transit signal priority is a main measure of executing bus priority. Moreover, because the time that buses arrive at an intersection should be predicted quite precisely to make a signal control scheme in advance, bus lane is an important segment in transit priority at signalized intersections to avoid disturbances from other vehicles on the road. However, in practice, the bus route of demand responsive transport is widespread, which is not inappropriate to set bus lane for each bus route because of low frequency. Therefore, in this paper, a robust optimization control method is proposed to solve the bus priority problem at signalized intersections without exclusive bus lanes and improve reliability of demand responsive transport priority at signalized intersections. First, the bus delay probability density function is formulated to describe the interaction mechanism about the bus and other vehicles at the signalized intersection. Then, the accurate bus delay expectation and variance calculation mathematical models are formulated based on the bus delay probability density function. Furthermore, a robust optimal signal control method is proposed followed by the discussions of boundary conditions. Finally, simulation test and case study were conducted to illustrate the performance of the robust optimization control method proposed in this paper. The results show that the proposed control method could significantly improve bus delay compared to considering the bus operation process as stable.

Prevalence of Municipal-Level Policies Dedicated to Transportation That Consider Food Access.

IntroductionLocal governments can address access to healthy food and transportation through policy and planning. This study is the first to examine municipal-level transportation supports for food access.MethodsWe used a nationally representative sample of US municipalities with 1,000 or more persons from the 2014 National Survey of Community-Based Policy and Environmental Supports for Healthy Eating and Active Living (N = 2,029) to assess 3 outcomes: public transit availability, consideration of food access in transportation planning, and presence of demand-responsive transportation (DRT). We used χ2 tests to compare prevalences by municipal characteristics including population size, rurality, census region, median educational attainment, poverty prevalence, racial and ethnic population distribution, and low-income low-access to food (LILA) status.ResultsAmong municipalities, 33.7% reported no public transit and 14.8% reported having DRT. Both public transit and DRT differed by population size (both P < .001) and census region (both P < .001) and were least commonly reported among municipalities with populations less than 2,500 (46.9% without public transit; 6.6% with DRT) and in the South (40.0% without public transit; 11.1% with DRT). Of those with public transit, 33.8% considered food access in transportation planning; this was more common with greater population size (55.9% among municipalities of ≥50,000 persons vs 16.8% among municipalities of <2,500 persons; P < .001), in the West (43.1% vs 26.8% in the Northeast, 33.7% in the Midwest, 32.2% in the South; P = .003), and municipalities with 20% or more of the population living below federal poverty guidelines (37.4% vs 32.2% among municipalities with less than 20% living in poverty; P = .07).ConclusionResults suggest that opportunities exist to improve food access through transportation, especially in smaller and Southern communities, which may improve diet quality and reduce chronic disease.

The attitude of potentially less mobile people towards demand responsive transport in a rural area in central Germany

Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) systems are often discussed to expand public transport in rural areas, where conventional buses are often used below capacity. DRT systems can particularly improve the mobility situation for less mobile people or other people who depend on public transport and ultimately prevent them from social exclusion. This paper examines whether people who show characteristics that indicate a mobility deficit are more willing to access the DRT system EcoBus in a rural area of Germany. Using survey data from 156 respondents from households in the EcoBus service area and utilizing linear regression analysis, this study confirms that car availability harms the intended use of DRT and that physical impairment has a positive effect, as identified several times in the literature. Furthermore, the influence of age on the intended EcoBus use depends on the residence place's city size and hence on its offer of daily public services. While residents of a sub-centre of the region are significantly less willing to use the EcoBus with increasing age, there is an opposite tendency for small villages. Thus, in small inaccessible localities, the likelihood of using EcoBus increases with age, suggesting that DRT systems benefit the doubly constrained population, namely the elderly population in localities with few public services.

The effects of gift vouchers and environmental certificates on the demand for a collective DRT system

This paper analyzes in a large-scale field experiment (N = 1425) whether gift vouchers stimulate the use of a demand responsive transportation (DRT) system. This scenario is compared to a situation where customers receive environmental certificates, which report the saved carbon dioxide as a consequence of the bus ride. In our two treatments, the gift vouchers and the environmental certificates could be gained by reaching to a certain threshold of rides with the DRT service (EcoBus). We find that the demand went up more by gift vouchers (83%) compared to certificates (65%). The data show that vouchers especially outperform the certificates at the end of the treatment phase.

For the young and old alike – An analysis of the determinants of seniors’ satisfaction with the true door-to-door DRT system EcoBus in rural Germany

Mobility and transportation service requirements change with growing age. Also in a car-based society like Germany many seniors need to give up driving the car and are dependent on relatives or public transport. Especially in rural areas, the accessibility of public transport is often limited. Demand responsive transportation has occasionally been proposed by researchers as a viable alternative to stop-, route- and time-based public transportation to address such problems. This case study analyses passenger data from the true DRT system EcoBus to identify distinct drivers of old passengers’ satisfaction compared to other passengers. Contrary to existing literature, older people stated to be even more satisfied with the service then younger travellers did. Moreover, older travellers tend to travel alone, but showed slightly higher satisfaction when travelling in groups. The results suggest that older people might be more open-minded and positive regarding flexible public transport schemes than expected.

Optimal fleet size for a shared demand-responsive transport system with human-driven vs automated vehicles: A total cost minimization approach

Vehicle automation is expected to reduce the cost of shared demand-responsive transport (DRT) services. In this context, questions regarding the conditions under which fixed-route public transport can be replaced with shared on-demand services have emerged. The expected increase in competitiveness between fixed-route and on-demand services requires the development of frameworks that enable the analysis of transportation costs of alternative modes. In this research, we develop a total cost minimization model for demand-responsive door-to-door shared transportation services, including operator and user costs. Optimization variables are vehicle size and fleet size for operation with human-driven and automated vehicles. A hybrid approach is used in which the relevant variables are analytically and numerically modeled, using data from a large-scale agent-based simulation applied to the city of Munich. We compare the case in which all trip requests must be served with the case in which request rejections are allowed, based on waiting and travel times. Different demand levels and alternative scenarios for vehicle automation are analyzed. The results indicate that the performance of door-to-door on-demand shared systems depends on the operational scheme selected. For the DRT setup and vehicle assignment strategy studied, we find that if the system is forced to have no trip rejections, economies of scale are not present, and the high user costs hinder the system’s competitiveness even under the assumption of automated vehicles. In contrast, in a system that allows for trip rejections, economies of scale are present, and vehicle automation can especially reduce operator costs, increasing the system’s competitiveness against other transportation modes. Therefore, in our setting, the efficiency of the demand-responsive service depends on the ability to reject customers, which is against the spirit of a truly public transportation service. On scenario analysis, we show that a theoretical improvement in the performance of the real-time vehicle assignment strategy can significantly reduce total cost, with economies of scale under no-rejection operation. Future research needs to address whether the actual application of more complex vehicle assignment strategies can indeed make DRT systems more cost competitive while serving all trip requests.

Public transport and public health: Regulatory focus and the impact of COVID-19 on the choice of public transport mode

ObjectiveBased on regulatory focus theory, it was predicted that there would be a relationship between regulatory focus, health-related perceived risk of using public transport during COVID-19, and choice of public transport mode. MethodThe study focused on choice between demand responsive transport (DRT), and more traditional modes of public transport, buses and private taxis. Participants completed online questionnaires to measure chronic regulatory focus, perception of health-related risk of using public transport, and choice of public transport mode (choice between buses and DRT, and separately, between taxis and DRT). ResultsThe choice between buses and DRT is explained by moderation. The relationship between promotion focus and choice is moderated by risk perception whereas the relationship between prevention focus and choice is moderated by age. Specifically, the probability of choosing DRT is smaller for those saying DRT is riskier (relative to bus is riskier), and the effect gets stronger with increasing strength of promotion focus. Furthermore, the probability of choosing DRT increases with increasing strength of prevention focus for individuals older in age, but decreases with increasing strength of prevention focus for those younger in age. The choice between taxis and DRT is explained by mediated-moderation. The relationship between promotion focus and choice is moderated by age and mediated by risk perception. Specifically, the probability of saying that DRT is riskier than taxis decreases with increasing strength of promotion focus for individuals older in age. As a result, the probability of choosing DRT increases with increasing strength of promotion focus for older people. Moreover, the probability of saying that DRT is riskier than taxis increases with increasing strength of promotion focus for individuals younger in age. As a result, the probability of choosing DRT decreases with increasing strength of promotion focus for younger people. Implications for transport and health are discussed.

Preferences toward Bus Alternatives in Rural Areas of the Netherlands: A Stated Choice Experiment

Public transport in rural areas is under pressure because demand is low and dispersed. To reduce costs, flexible and on-demand services are often proposed as alternatives for conventional bus services. Conventional services are generally not suitable for rural areas, because the demand is low and dispersed. In this paper, a stated preference survey is designed to identify the preferences of rural bus users for alternative services. Other than the traditional bus, two other modes are included in this study: a demand responsive transport (DRT) service and an express bus service with bike-sharing services for last mile transport. Given the on-demand nature of these alternatives, flexibility- and reliability-related attributes are included in the stated preference survey. The results from the choice model indicate that the reliability and flexibility aspects do not have a large effect on the preference for the on-demand alternatives. Instead, cost, access and egress times, and in-vehicle time play a bigger role in individuals’ preferences toward the different alternatives. A sensitivity analysis shows that changes in the operational characteristics can make the on-demand alternatives more attractive. However, many bus users still prefer the conventional bus service over the on-demand alternatives.

Feasibility Analysis of Demand Response Transport (DRT) over Route Buses Using Operating Cost Functions

In the outskirts of Korean provincial cities, the demand for using route buses is decreasing due to the declining population. Local governments provide subsidies to bus companies to ensure residents' right to move and maintain route buses. While the local government's fiscal burden to maintain the route bus system is increasing, the quality of route bus services is gradually decreasing. In order to reduce the increasing financial burden for maintaining the route bus system, and to increase the mobility of residents in areas where public transportation services are weak, it is necessary to operate a demand responsive transport (DRT) that replaces route buses. DRT that replaces route buses is a system that abolishes existing buses and provides DRT services. However, the guidelines suggested by the central government do not have specific criteria for selecting regions that can operate DRT, which replaces route buses. For this reason, each local government is struggling to implement DRT, which replaces route buses. This study suggested a method of route sections in which the taxi-type DRT operation is more economically efficient than the route bus operation by examining the relationship between the cost function of the route bus and the taxi-type DRT. In addition, by applying the method suggested in this study to the vulnerable areas of local buses in Changwon-si, four routes were selected for more effective taxi-type DRT operation than route buses. The method suggested in this study is a general function found through the investigation of the relationship between the cost of running a route bus and the cost of a general taxi. DRT is recognized as a high quality door-to-door transportation mode for local residents where public transportation service is less expensive than a route bus and is believed as fully transferrable in other cities where want to provide DRT services. The suggested analysis framework and data from the results from this research are expected to be utilized in supporting policy making process for local governments that intend to operate DRT replacing route buses in the future.

Mobility service design via joint optimization of transit networks and demand-responsive services

This paper proposes a modeling framework to design an integrated mobility service system that is composed of a local demand-responsive transportation (DRT) component and a fixed-route transit network component. The region is partitioned into disjoint local zones, and a trip is characterized into an intra- or inter-zonal one based on whether its origin and destination belong to the same zone. The transit network provides backbone line-haul service to inter-zonal trips, while the DRT system targets intra-zonal trips as well as the first-mile and last-mile legs of inter-zonal trips. The system components can be broadly defined, and this paper considers, as examples, conventional non-shared taxi or ride-sharing for the DRT service, and regular bus, bus rapid transit (BRT), or metro for the backbone network. For quantitative analysis of the DRT services, new aspatial queuing network models are developed to capture various DRT operations for serving trips with randomly distributed origins and destinations (i.e., intra-zonal trips) and those with origins or destinations concentrated at a set of fixed transit stations (i.e., first- or last-mile trip legs) at the same time. Each queuing model is integrated with the transit network design model, through proper service region partition, to derive closed-form formulas for the agency and passenger costs. Then, we formulate constrained non-linear programs that simultaneously optimize the zone partition, the fleet size and repositioning operation for the local DRT service, as well as the spacing and headway of a grid transit network. We apply the proposed models to a variety of transit technologies and application scenarios, so as to demonstrate applicability of the models, and to show promising performance of the proposed systems.

Exploring the Traveler’s Intentions to Use Public Transport during the COVID-19 Pandemic While Complying with Precautionary Measures

Public transport use has drastically declined during the COVID-19 pandemic because the virus spreads through close contact with infected people and contaminated surfaces, especially in closed-environments. Evidence suggests that following the necessary safety guidelines can limit the spread of the virus, however, non-compliance to precautionary measures has been reported widely. Ignoring the precautionary measures may lead to quick transmission of the virus since public transport vehicles generally resemble closed-environments. This study explores people’s intentions to use public transport during the COVID-19 pandemic while adhering to precautionary measures. For this purpose, a total of 1516 useable responses were collected through a questionnaire survey conducted in Lahore, Pakistan. Regression models were developed to model the intentions to use public transport during the pandemic, to adhere to the precautionary measures while using public transport during the pandemic, and to use public transport while suffering from COVID-19 disease. The results of this study will help in understanding the intentions of the public transport users during the COVID-19 pandemic. It will also provide insights for policymakers and public transport operators about further necessary actions to promote safe public transport use during the current and any possible future pandemics. As public transport use declined during the pandemic, policy implications for alternative mobility options such as demand-responsive-transport (DRT) are also presented. Considering the study results, a policy interventions framework is proposed to promote the safe use of various public transport modes, particularly in developing regions.